The foreign policy of Greece towards its northern frontier problems (1990-93)

• Main Author: Angouras, Vassilis
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1999
• Subjects: 940
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.640543

It appears that psychological factors as well as objective ones play significant part in shaping Greek foreign policy. The author of this study believes that subjective criteria play a significant role during policy-making. The policy-makers interact between them, they bear a number of values, and understand and act through their subjective interpretation of the environment. A theoretical model which focuses on the policy-maker and could help the process of explanation is offered in Part C. The Realist school of thought with its focus on the policy-maker and could help the process of explanations offered in theoretical background. This theory discusses the interactions of the following dimensions of foreign policy-making which influence the persons responsible for it: the operational environment provide the set of rules; the psychological environment, the national images and values which shape the national myth (ideology) shape the attitude of the policy-maker; the national interest as a powerful psychological and pragmatic concept shapes attitudes by focusing on the question of survival and power; the domestic environment provides different meanings of the national interest and competitions within it affect the foreign policy-making process; the dimension of the small and weak state in international relations also shapes the psychology of the policy maker; territorial identities and disputes can create certain attitudes which see frontiers at risk of being violated. The explanation which follows in Part D, the result of a combination of interviews, documents and literature concludes in proposing a model of Greek foreign policy explanation which can be extended to the rest of the Balkans: history, domestic politics, images and values, nationalism, fear, arrogance, survival and power, real and imaginary notions contribute in shaping the attitude of the policy-makers and their policies. The explanation that this thesis offers shows why the 1990-93 period was not an unfortunate time in history. The period of crisis simply showed, in a conspicuous way, the dimensions which are always present in the Greek foreign policy-making process.